5 gal water bottle skimmer?

[noteworthy]

I was using a feed off an overflow.. I have two overflows in my tank. One goes down to the fuge and can be split to the skimmer side if I need slower flow in the fuge. The other went to the skimmer compartment or fed the skimmer directly. Yes it seemed to be okay but the water level varied somewhat and I would go from no bubbles to flooding the collection cup. You are saying take the entire overflow on one side to go directly into the skimmer? Too much flow.. If I backed it off my other overflow couldn't keep up with my return pumps.

[hahnmeister]

I have a single central overflow in the tank with dual standpipes. That is the secret. I get no variation in flow rate nor bubbles. I can see how dual drains with dual overflows would make it a challenge though. Both standpipes need to be in one overflow.

What do you mean too much flow? Its a recirc skimmer. You only need as much water as the skimmer can handle going through your sump... the rest is wasted electricity. Since a recirc is rated at 1.5x-2x the tank volume per hour, that means my 125g should have 190-250gph going throught the sump... which I have by using a single eheim 1250 return pump (about 200-250gph according to the calculator). So I get 100% of my overflow water right into the skimmer, no bubbles, no surges in flow. Surges are due to air pockets and such that build up in the pipes. If you use a valve system right, these problems dont happen. Sure, once every few days I might have to adjust the valve (or open/shut it to clean it), but its pretty much foolproof. The secondary drain is just there as backup... as of yet, it still hasnt run.

But yeah, if you have a durso/stockman/hoffer style setup or no valve control, the resulting air intake and other problems could be a nightmare. Like I said... it takes planning ahead.

[musty baby]

Still has a bit of tweaking to be done, but basically complete. Thanks for the ideas, I picked up a lot of info in this thread before I started.

5 gal 4xrecirc

[wmfsoll2]

hahnmeister:
I would like to know if you could give a quick drawing of of your plumbing. I was thinking about using the same type of setup. If you rather you could just take pictures. I would appreciate any help. Thanx Alot, Bill.

[hahnmeister]

Sure, click on my little red house.

[jasert39]

going to bump this thread up...is anyone running their skimmer externally? how well do the uniseal work on the skimmer body? thanks.

any updated pictures?

[hahnmeister]

My external uses a couple uni-seals... they are just as good, if not better than regular threaded bulkheads.

[thriceanangel]

Does anyone know the pressure rating on uniseals? I have a higher pressure application that they would be perfect for, but I can't get an answer. For instance could you use them on a closed loop?